


i do adore

by hermitcrabcoral



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Not really romantic, just rivals bein friends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22784296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hermitcrabcoral/pseuds/hermitcrabcoral
Summary: After the world almost ends, it's comforting to Gloria that some things never change. Hop is still as enthusiastic as ever, Marnie is forever the sweetheart out of all of them, and Bede will never refuse free food.Like now, for instance.
Relationships: Beet | Bede & Hop, Beet | Bede & Yuuri | Gloria, Mary | Marnie & Yuuri | Gloria
Comments: 6
Kudos: 35





	1. pity pastries

After the world almost ends, it's comforting to Gloria that some things never change. Hop is still as enthusiastic as ever, Marnie is forever the sweetheart out of all of them, and Bede will never refuse free food.

Like now, for instance. 

"What about an Alcremie sweet? I heard they're pretty good!" 

Bede wrinkles his nose slightly, and the tiniest shift in his eyebrows tells Gloria he's torn between saving his pride or accepting Gloria's pity pastry in return for battling (and losing) against her. 

Gloria doesn't feel any remorse, however, and grins as Bede lets out a sigh. "Not today. Whenever Hop thinks I need a pity pastry, he always gets me those."

He's humming quietly to himself as he scans the glass case boasting a wide range of poffins when Gloria suddenly remarks, "Didn't know  _ you _ hung out with Hop this time around." 

Bede snorts, his hands fidgeting idly by his pokeballs as he sniffs, "I  _ don't.  _ Your lovely neighbor  _ insists  _ on having tea with me and solving all of my social issues." 

"Sure, sure, Bede. As long as he keeps you happy." Gloria casually ignores Bede's huff and coloring cheeks as she waves him off.

Idly, Bede drags his finger over a pink poffin display.  _ He has a sweet tooth,  _ Gloria notes, and immediately suggests, "How about pink poffins? I honestly like the yellow ones, but I know Hop likes the dry ones and Marnie likes the spicy ones." 

"Then I'll have some pink and blue ones to go. I have business to attend to, afterwards, anyways." 

She pokes his tongue out at him. "If you wanted to leave earlier, you could have just  _ said  _ so." Gloria waits for Bede's indignant  _ shut up, _ but to her surprise, he instead snarks out, "And turn down a free treat from the champion herself? Yeah, right." 

Gloria elbows him softly, and looks around, in case anyone heard him. She  _ really  _ did not need a crowd around her now. "You flatter me. Just order the poffins you wanted."

A few minutes later, Bede smugly takes his share of poffins while Gloria pops a yellow one in her mouth. 

"I know you don't always have time to come out of Ballonlea, so thanks for the battle today." Gloria says, between mouthfuls of the sour treat. 

Bede takes one look at her and shakes his head, probably at her uncouth state. "Well, thank you too, my champion. Your battles are always a pleasure." 

"Never thought I'd hear you admit that, Bede." 

He scowls at her, and Gloria is almost relieved to see his old self again. "No one will believe you if you told them that. Why don't you take yourself to Spikemuth? I think I might have accidentally blown your cover." 

"Why else do you think I bought red poffins? Gotta give Marnie a peace offering when I drop in unexpectedly somehow, right?"

At this, Bede laughs underneath his breath. "I'm calling you a flying taxi. Give Marnie my regards as well." Behind him, his Rotom phone is already ordering the taxi. 

"You sound more and more like Opal," Gloria snickers, and bumps his shoulder playfully. "I'll see you soon!" she calls out behind him as the Corviknight skids to a stop in front of her. 

Bede watches as he steps into the cart and ascends into the air for a few minutes before disappearing out of sight. Then he calls his own taxi, for Wedgehurst. 

It was due time for him to visit the lab, anyways. 


	2. spikemuth surprise

Gloria prayed her simple disguise of a hoodie pulled low over her head would protect her from the potential onslaught of incoming fans. She descended the flying taxi, and, after tipping a few pounds, fled to the back of Spikemuth.

Members of Team Yell poked up their heads to see the rare visitor shuffle in, one of them shouting, "Piers isn't here right now, if you're just looking for an autograph."

"Actually," Gloria replies, a smile on her face, "I'm looking for his sister. Marnie? We were rivals." 

A guy squints at Gloria's face, before recognition flickers over his face. "The  _ champion's  _ here, huh?" His voice is low, thankfully, and the other nearby members perk their ears. "Tell you what. We'll let you pass if you sign our jackets." 

Gloria's shoulders visibly relax. "That's it? Can you lead me to Marnie too? I got her a treat." 

Someone hands her a pen and her hands find themselves automatically scribbling signatures. A girl raises her eyebrows. "A gift from the champion? Our Marnie's not telling us something about you two." 

"Just mates. We were rivals first, after all. I don't see why that has to end." 

Gloria returns the pen and flexes her wrist slightly as a member escorts her through darkened streets, though Gloria can see the improvement being done to the town. 

"You treat our girl right! Someone's already told her you're coming, so just walk in that door over there."

Gloria thanks the girl, and barges right in.

She hears Morpeko's hisses before she sees Marnie herself, and Gloria can hear her frantically cry out, "No, not  _ now!  _ Behave yourself!" Chairs scrap across the floor, and Gloria winces as she imagines the marks they'll leave. 

"I wasn't aware I was part of your pokemon team now, Marnie," Gloria teases. "Sorry for dropping in on such short notice." She plops the bag of smashed poffins on the table, and offers one to the restrained Morpeko.

The angry pokemon accepts the offering, greedy paws eagerly clambering for it. Now subdued by the offer of treats, Morpeko turns yellow again. 

"Thank you, Glo. A little menace, but I love 'em." Marnie's eyes light up at the sight of the poffins, and she eases herself into a chair. "Ooh, you shouldn't have!" 

Gloria waves her off, and snatches another one for herself. "It's alright. Team Yell was pretty cooperative with me, considering I just literally descended on them." 

"You came by taxi? But…" Marnie's eyebrows curl up, curious. "What happened?" 

The champion flicks her hair over her shoulder, her expression nonchalant. "Bede, of course. Almost blew my cover after a battle. The imp had the nerve to do so right after I got him  _ free poffins."  _ Gloria  _ huffs,  _ annoyed. 

"I'm sure it wasn't on purpose," Marnie tries to input, but the waver in her voice betrays her, and she giggles.

"So I came here instead, where at least  _ some people  _ are good to me." Gloria draws out her tones, exaggerated, and crosses her arms. "Even my fans here are better. You know how I got by them, right?" 

"No? Team Yell just said…oh, if they forced you to do something, I'll…"

"Nope!" She throws her head back, her laughter loud and victorious. "Just had to sign their jackets and be on my merry way." 

Marnie grits her teeth, red poffin crumbs spilling over. "I  _ told  _ them not to —ugh, I thought they still wouldn't be so shirty with my rivals." She groans again, and Gloria suddenly remembers why you  _ didn't _ get on Marnie's bad side. 

"Aw, Marnie, they were fine! Really sweet chaps, honestly." Gloria reaches into the bag and offers another spicy poffin to her. 

"It's not just that, well—I'm just afraid that they don't…take me seriously." She accepts Gloria's poffin, and stuffs it into her mouth, her hands fiddling with her pigtails instead. 

"Marnie, please, you're doin'  _ fine." _

Gloria insists, but she watches as Marnie continues to take out her hair, mesmerized by how the ribbons of black fall out into long, straight, strands of hair.

Marnie sighs. "I know, I know, but with Piers gone, doing who-knows-what with Raihan, I still feel like I'm just a baby to them." 

Gloria doesn't respond, but instead opts for scooting her chair behind Marnie and combing through her hair. "Not fair," her voice says, muffled through the now tangled mess. "It's so soft. Mine is a rat's nest and as dry as your brother's humor."

"Maybe it wouldn't be so dry if you didn't dye your hair every time you walked into a new town, Glo." Marnie's laugh is light, and Gloria feels a warmth in her chest, grateful that she had visited her friend.

"Mmm. I had a lot of fun bleaching my hair during the gym season. Probably blew about—oh, I don't know, over ten thousand pounds on dying hair. Not to mention makeup." 

_ "Gloria,"  _ Marnie whispers, affection cloaked with exasperation.  _ "Why."  _

She disentangles her fingers from Marnie's hair and shrugs. "First I wanted to experiment. Then I met Bede again, an' I decided I wanted to screw him over, next time we met. Walked into the next battle with his white hair and swept his—" 

"That's real swell, Glo. I bet you were just jealous of his own hair." 

"Hey—" Gloria raises her arms up, defensive. "I can fully admit fairy boy's got soft hair,  _ which  _ he doesn't even let me touch." 

Marnie chuckles at the sulking girl. "Speaking of Bede, did you just leave him alone after you ghosted him?" 

"First off, I didn'  _ ghost _ him, he called the taxi for me, fo' Arceus' sake. Second, I bet he's with our favorite professor right now." Smugly, Gloria leans back into her chair. "Bede bought blue poffins along with his sweet ones. Now who else likes a dry treat, hm?" 

"Oh, Hop? I'm sure they're having a bash together, knowing the two of them." 

"Not fair.  _ I  _ battle Bede for fun and buy him stuff, but  _ noo,  _ he only stays for tea with my lovely neighbor." 

Marnie sniffs slightly at this, and reaches her hand into the bag, her smile retracting when she realizes Morpeko ate the rest of the poffins. "Just invite fairy boy over for curry. He won't turn that down. And besides, how do you know they're together right now?"

Gloria gets a glint in her eye, almost identical to the one seen in the heat of battle or when she's about to do something incredibly stupid. 

"Just gonnae ruin their tea party." Her Rotom phone buzzes over her, smile unchanged but somehow more mischievous now. 

"Glo,  _ no _ —"

"Aw, surely inviting them for a spot of curry together won't kill them, hm? You'll come too, right Marnie?" Her fingers fly across the screen, no doubt sending an invitation for the campout to their group chat.

Marnie sighs, resigned. "'Course I'm going, Gloria. I don't condone, however…your interruption of their meeting." 

Gloria sticks her tongue out at Marnie, her smugness replaced with fondness. "They'll come, you'll see." 

Her words are vindicated a minute later when Hop replies  _ Of course!! Let's all bring some stuff to cook!!  _ and when Bede begrudgingly sends,  _ I will be present. Don't say I don't care for my rivals sometimes. _

_ Not very endearing of Bede, but he's trying his best, _ Marnie muses. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gloria's conversation about hair is very much inspired by my current pokemon run, haha


	3. spilled tea (yes, literally)

The plan was simple, in Bede's eyes. He would arrive at the lab, drop off the poffins for Hop, and say _no, thank you_ when he inevitably invited him in for tea. Then he would loiter outside until Hop took pity on Bede's pride and offered a stupid excuse that meant he _had_ to come in, _wait til you hear this, Bede._

(The last step wasn't actually part of his plan, but Bede will take what he can get.) 

Except today, when Hop opens the door, clearly sleep deprived, he notices his guest and immediately snaps awake. "Bede! Believe it or not, you're a sight for sore eyes. I've been working so hard, but Sonia and I have got so much done—"

"I got you poffins, which I was planning on giving you  _ if you'd shut up."  _

At this, Hop holds his hands up in defense. "Alright, alrighty, wooloo."

"You  _ take that back _ —"

"Sorry, my  _ esteemed guest.  _ I am simply honored to have you here."

"You better. The hermit of Ballonlea rarely steps out of its shell." Bede sniffs, and Hop gives him an incredulous look.

"Don't flatter yourself. If I really wanted an  _ esteemed guest _ , I would've had Glo or Marnie over." 

Bede is  _ so  _ close to turning around and walking right out the door right then and now, but then Hop adds, "Hey, if you're gonna drop by unannounced, you might as well stay! And I want those poffins."

"I swear to Arceus—"

_ "And  _ I've got Roserade tea today!"

Hop gives him the stupidest, cheesiest grin that Bede doesn't deign to react to, because he knows the professor's won.

. . .

"Speaking of being a hermit, what were you doing out of town today?" Hop's hand wavers as he attempts to set the teapot down, and Bede reaches over to help him. 

"Glo invited me over for a battle— _ ow!"  _ His hand shakes and hot water spills over it, Bede hissing as it leaves red marks in its wake. 

Hop grimaces, the bags underneath his eyes darkening, and before Bede can decide whether to just brush it off or make a fuss (and an excuse to leave), Hop's face breaks out into a grin.

"I got the perfect thing for this," says he, in the voice of a man who has been living off Tapu coffee for a week, too engrossed in studying, and Hop bursts out of his seat and rushes to another room. Not for the first time since he arrived, Bede wonders if it would be rude to just _walk_ right out the door. 

Thankfully, before his body could catch up with his brain to actually make a decision, Hop comes back with…potion bottle, filled with a dark blue liquid. 

"I've been working on this! Well, it's a side project, really—I still am Sonia's assistant when it comes to her dynamax research, but she does let me study other things on the side—"

"Hop.  _ What is that. _ "

"A potion, of course!" He starts motioning to start spraying it over Bede's hand, but it quickly retracts. 

"I am  _ not  _ pokemon." Oh, Bede is starting to regret ever even considering coming to the lab. 

"See, Bede, if you'd let me explain," and Hop has the audacity to  _ wink  _ at him, "then you would see it's a potion I've been developing for humans. It should work!"

_ "Should.  _ And now I'm your test subject." 

Hop shrugs. "I've ingested this thing by accident, and if anything it was probably better for me than my coffee, so I think you're safe." 

Bede finally relents, and slides his injured hand over to Hop. Delicately, the professor begins spritzing the wound, stopping momentarily when Bede's face scrunches up in pain.

"It's fine," he insists, and then, realizing what Hop said earlier, Bede adds, "Wait. How did you drink this  _ on accident?"  _

The other boy does not answer, but his face flares up and the steady spray of the potion turns uneven and messy. At last he answers, "Mixed it up with my coffee." 

Bede doesn't even know how to react to that, and thankfully he doesn't, because Hop is pushing his hand back towards him and beaming, "See! Good as new!" 

He's right, of course. The red marks are gone, not a single blister in sight. 

"Hop, you…you  _ are _ good at your job."

"Thanks! You were always right, all those years ago." Hop smiles at him, truly and sincerely, and Bede almost looks away.

"No. Do not bring up the past again. I  _ just  _ told Gloria that you always make me talk about my problems over tea as a joke; do  _ not  _ make it true."

"Aw, Bede, you talk about me? I mean, we didn't even drink tea this time, I don't know why you're so mad."

The stupid, cheeky grin is back on Hop's face, and Bede wonders if his hair is naturally white or if he's slowly grown it throughout the years of his gym challenge and dealing with lovely, compatible rivals. 

He shoves the bag of poffins into Hop's face. "Just take these, for heaven's sake. I bought—well, Gloria paid for poffins, and I got you some."

Hop looks pleased as he pops a blue one in his mouth, consequently preventing him from replying to Bede, who snatches the bag back from him and steals one for himself.

It's all peaceful until Hop opens his mouth again. 

"So where did Glo go?" There are crumbs all around his face, and Bede really isn't surprised anymore at how similar he and Gloria are.

"Off to Spikemuth, to Marnie, of course." 

Hop groans a little, a frown on his face. "Not fair. I'm stuck in the lab all day, while you guys battle for fun."

"This is the first battle I've had with Gloria for months that  _ wasn't  _ an exhibition match. And I came by, didn't I?" 

"I know, I just—I wish I could see everyone again, like the old times!"

Bede eyes Hop warily. "You  _ could  _ do the gym challenge again. I saw an old man in uniform once. I'm sure you could get Gloria to endorse you." 

"Fair," Hop mumbles into his third poffin, but his Rotomphone interrupts him.

It's a text from Gloria.

_ Sorry to bother you guys! _ —which means Gloria knows exactly that she's bothering them— _ but I'm with Marnie, and I thought maybe we should all camp out tonight together! _

Bede doesn't want to know what Hop's been doing the past week, hiding in the lab, because the kid receives the text message like a present under the Christmas tree. His fingers are already typing a reply when he looks up at Bede, expectantly, and asks, "You're going, right?"

Bede looks from his hand, to the untouched tea pot, to the poffins on the table. He thinks about Gloria, the  _ champion,  _ how she laughs and stuffs food into her mouth while Marnie chides her on the side.

They really were a mess, and now, Bede realizes, he likes them for it.

"Yeah," he says, "yeah. I'll be there." 

(He isn't soft for long though, and makes sure to send a snarky reply of confirmation.)

**Author's Note:**

> or: i just want the rivals to interact more
> 
> i can't wait to write more for this fic its a good cure for when im having trouble writing about how the world almost ended. i mean what


End file.
